The Earthshaker
Story by Xialdeim on SoFurry
A city is getting ready for a major event.
It was a busy day in the city. Soon The Earthshaker festival will arrive. People were busy hanging up all kinds of colorful decorations and charms, praying for things to go well. There would also be a huge feast that everyone would be invited to.
Everyone would, however, soon be leaving the city behind to camp in the soft forest. Given how intense the quakes can be sometimes, it was the safest place for everyone. After enough times, they figured out a system.
At first there was a sense of sadness and loss as their city would suffer damage. But as they learned how to rebuild quickly and effectively, they learned to be thankful for what they had and see it as just another challenge of life they had to rise up to.
People gathered, taking whatever heirlooms and important objects they could take with them. Only what they couldn't replace. They would meet friends, family, neighbors, and peers. All gathered for the celebration. The air was filled with excited voices as people set up.
It started to wind down as the time drew closer. There was a strange excitement in the air as people were ready for this force of nature to start. As well as some nervousness. While things have been constant for a long time, there was always a chance that things would change.
It didn't take long until the quakes started. Softly at first, but the rhythmic shaking of the earth was something they could never forget. Like someone counting very slowly and loudly. A huge gust of wind flew over the camp as an impossibly large land mass flew overhead. It was The Earthshaker itself.
No one knew why or how it worked. All they really knew was that it would happen mostly at the same time every week. Some kind of massive creature that likes to roam the area of the soft forest and the city. Why did it do this? They would never truly know. Was it on purpose, or was it just a mindless beast happening to do something next to the city? They never found the answer.
A loud crash and crunches soon follow as the Earthshaker passes by, hitting some part of the city. The earthquakes stop for a moment after that happens. The suspense of the part was always one of the worst. The creature would stop and make some kind of noise before finally making the quakes start again. The rumbling would slowly but surely move away. The Earthshaker completed whatever task it wanted to do and moved on.
The people started to cheer and clap as another Earthshaker festival came to a close. It was now time to rebuild and get ready for the next one.
***
Meanwhile, a hippo got home from work and was ready to relax for the weekend. He has been working on his backlog of movies.
As he walks over to a bookshelf he has full of them, he steps on something. He checked his sole, and it didn't hurt, however his sole had a few crumbs of something stuck to them.
"Oh, I really should vacuum this rug sometime. It gets so filthy."
He starts to walk away, getting ready to watch his movie. Thankfully for the little city, he always seems to forget to follow up on his statement